The present invention is in the field of biological and chemical synthesis and processing. The present invention relates to methods for control of and display from devices for biological and chemical processing.
Advances are continually emerging in the field of biological and chemical processing and synthesis equipment. Many novel and improved arrays or xe2x80x9cgene chipsxe2x80x9d are being developed providing rapid methods for synthesizing chemical and biological materials. Examples of such technologies include those described by Pirrung et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,854, those described by Southern in WO 93/22480, those described by Heller in WO 95/12808, those described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,849,486, those described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,632,957, those described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,605,662 and those described by Montgomery in WO 98/01221. The disclosure of the foregoing are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety. Methods for synthesizing chemical and biological materials may employ, for example, photolithographic techniques or electrochemical techniques. There are many pieces of biological and chemical synthesis and processing equipment that may be or are controlled with a computer interface. Increasingly, computer interface with chemical synthesis or screening is providing opportunities to synthesize large numbers of chemicals rapidly and evaluate ever larger amounts of information from biological systems.
Means for interfacing computer technology with biological and chemical processing and synthesis are only beginning to emerge. It would be useful for the computer to interface with equipment useful for biological and chemical processing and synthesis in a remote manner. An interface that runs over a network or combination of networks (the Internet, a company""s own internal network, etc.), allowing the user to control the equipment remotely while maintaining a full graphical display, updated in real time or near real time may be produced.
In one aspect, the present invention provides methods for interfacing computer technology with biological and chemical processing and synthesis equipment. In preferred embodiments, the present invention features methods for the computer to interface with equipment useful for biological and chemical processing and synthesis in a remote manner. Preferably, the methods of the present invention interface so as to run over a network or combination of networks such as the Internet, an internal network such as a company""s own internal network, etc. thereby allowing the user to control the equipment remotely while maintaining a graphic display, updated in real time or near real time. Preferably, the methods of the present invention are used in conjunction with solid phase arrays that employ photolithographic or electrochemical methods for synthesis of chemical or biological materials. Particularly preferred embodiments of the present invention are used in conjunction with solid or porous arrays that employ electrochemical methods for synthesis of chemical or biological materials.
In a second aspect, the present invention features a system for controlling and/or monitoring equipment for synthesizing or processing biological or chemical materials from a remote location. Such a system comprises a computer terminal remote from the equipment itself, software designed to monitor or control such equipment, and a communication means between the active part of such equipment and the computer terminal. Such a system preferably communicates between the computer terminal and the subject equipment via the internet or an internal intranet. Those skilled in the art readily understand that the software useful in such a system is highly specific depending upon the equipment itself and the parameter and conditions that need to be controlled or monitored to effect the desired processing or synthesis. As used herein, the term xe2x80x9cremotexe2x80x9d means not adjacent to. In effect, term is used to denote that the computer terminal for effecting and monitoring the equipment may be located in the same vicinity as or in a completely location from the equipment. The present invention effectively allows the artisan to process or synthesize biological or chemical materials using appropriate equipment in a location that is removed from the equipment itself. Moreover, the present invention allows the artisan to control or monitor more than one or a plurality of pieces of equipment from such a remote location.
The present invention may be applied in, but is not limited to, the fields of chemical or biological synthesis such as the preparation of peptide, oligomer, polymer, oligosaccharide, nucleic acid, ribonucleic acid, porphyrin, and drug congeners. In particular, the present invention may be used in conjunction with methods to create sources of chemical diversity for use in screening for biological activity, for example, for use in the rapidly developing field of combinatorial chemistry. The methods of the present invention are especially applicable to such equipment as DNA synthesizers. Such DNA synthesizers may be controlled remotely according to the methods of the present invention thereby providing a graphic readout on progress and current status and controllable over a network.
The present invention is particularly applicable to methods of electrochemical solid phase synthesis such as those described by Montgomery in WO 98/01221, the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety. The present invention provides methods for remote computer control of solid phase arrays upon which chemical synthesis is performed.